Computer system employing a bus snooping multimedia subsystem fo

Details Computer system employing a bus snooping multimedia subsystem fo Computer system employing a bus snooping multimedia subsystem fo

1997-06-11

2000-02-15

Sheikh, Ayaz R.

395289, 395856, 395866, 395306, G06F 1300, G06F 1322

Patent

active

060262184

ABSTRACT:
A bus snooping multimedia subsystem for implementing video multicast transactions. A multimedia data source such as a video input digitizer is coupled to an expansion bus of a computer system. A plurality of multimedia destination subsystems are further coupled to the expansion bus, such as a video accelerator card and a video compression device, among others. At least one of the destination subsystems is configured to implement a snooping mode of operation wherein transactions effectuated upon the expansion bus are monitored. The snooping destination subsystem may include a programmable storage unit to allow the device to be programmed with specified addresses (or address ranges). The programmed address information associated with the storage unit may correspond to addresses mapped to another destination subsystem in the computer system. If a transaction is initiated upon the expansion bus which involves the transfer of data having an address corresponding to the information within the programmable storage unit, the snooping destination subsystem latches in the data concurrently with the other destination subsystem by monitoring the associated bus signals. The snooping destination subsystem may then process the data in accordance with the functionality of the device, as desired. For example, in one implementation, the snooping destination device is a video compression device which compresses data at the same time it is being received and displayed by a video controller to which the data is targeted.

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